Meetings

When creating our music video it was very important to meet regularly and discuss ideas because it helps us to keep all of our ideas organised and it also allowed us to look back on what we had done. We would easily be able to look back and see what we had planned and when. Furthermore, it allowed us to consider everybody's ideas and discuss them all as a group. As we was doing it as a group we needed everybody to be included and share their ideas in the group. This made it fair and it meant our music video would be a combination of all of our ideas. By our whole group meeting it allowed everybody to keep up to date with what is happening in the group and know when any changes need to be made.
As a group we created a group chat so that we could contact everyone quickly and easily to arrange meetings and discuss all of our ideas. It especially helped us to plan when we was going to film, where we was going to meet and what we was going to film. This meant that everybody in the group was aware of what was happening regarding filming at all times. Which allowed us to work well together as a group as we were well organised. We also create a meetings table which allowed us to keep a record of when we met, what was discussed and what the outcomes of that meeting was. This meetings table was extremely important because it helped to keep a record of everything we had done, this meant we knew what we had left to plan and film.

I think that my group and I worked really well together as a group because we were extremely good at discussing everybody's ideas and considering them. But also making a final decision of what we was going to do. Also we were overall very organised as a group, when we planned to meet up and film everybody that was meant to be there turned up and we achieved what we had planned to do in that session. Also when editing our video we were all very honest about our opinions on the what was being edited, which resulted in us getting the best possible outcome with our video as nobody sugar coated what they thought. Any parts of the video that any group members didn't like were changed or altered in some way to satisfy everyone but also still follow the genre conventions.
It was very beneficial to keep a record of what was discussed in each meeting because it allowed us to easily be able to look back on what we have planned and when, we could review everything encase we had forgot. Also it allowed us to see what we had left to plan and film.

Photoshoot

In order to help promote my artist and her music there are two other tasks that I have to complete in order to make her audience aware of her music. These are a magazine advert and a digipak album. For these media texts I took a variety of shots of my artists in some of the locations we filmed in, this was done so that the audience would be able to link the advert and digipak to the music video. Also to capture the attention of my target audience I have to make sure my media texts include indie conventions. The images are important for the digipak and advert as this could be the first time some people have seen the artist therefore, it needs to capture their attention and make them intrigued as to who she is. She needs to stand out and be memorable from other artists.

It is important to take a variety of images when shooting for the digipak and advert photos because I need to ensure that my media texts lure in my target audience and hold their attention. So if they was seeing the same image/images used multiple times, then they could become bored and uninterested.  When it came to choosing the photos to use in my two media texts then having a large selection to choose from made it much easier as I had a wide range to choose from. And some of the photos I planned out didn't work but I had spare images to include instead.

This image is also going to be used in my digipak for my message to fans.  I decided to use this photo as my message to fans because of the large amount of space on the left hand side.  Also as the left hand side was mainly grass it would allow my message to stand out against the background. This setting is also common within all of my digipak photos followed the theme well. To this photo I added a antique filter to give the impression her music if her looking back at her life. I choose a photo of her standing backwards as I think it shows she is looking back on her music and reflecting on how her fans have helped her get through everything. This is conventional of indie artists because there music is often based on the own personal experiences. This will help the audience to build up a relationship with Sharna because they feel as if she is telling them her most darkest stories in her lift which adds to the sense of realism. Although her facing away from the camera could represent her as quite shy and timid, her body language portrays her to be quite strong and independent.  She is in the filed on her own implying to the audience that she can stand alone and face all her problems head on. This is conventional of indie artist as they use the music to make them feel confident and powerful.
I really like Sharna's body language in this photo because as mentioned before even though she isn't facing the camera it still gives the impression she is a strong and independent person, this will make  her a good role model for her audience and allow them to relate to her better.

This image is going to be the front cover of my digipak. I choose this image for the front because I think it shows Sharna as a real person. She is sitting on the ground, wearing quite casual clothing, this make her more relatable to the audience because most of her target audience are likely to have similar clothing. By having her as a relatable figure on the front cover it would intrigue the audience to look at the digipak as the would want to find out more. It is high conventional of the indie genre for the artists to be relatable because they often are more focused on showing the audience them as a person, then a product like many other artists from other genres. For my front cover I cropped away a lot of the background so it was more focused on her. Her natural look in the photo is also very conventional to the indie genre. She is wearing simple make up and has natural wavy hair. This is conventional because indie artists don't generally wear over the top make up and are quite simplistic in what they wear and look like. Furthermore the field setting in conventional to the indie genre because they are normally quite low budget productions, therefore use low cost locations.

I really like Sharna's natural look in this photograph due to it making her highly relatable to the audience, this is because she is not hiding herself under layers of make up and showing her true self.

This is going to be one of the images on my digipak. I choose this to be one of my images in my digipak because it is a very clear close up of Sharna, allowing the audience to really see what she looks like. Her facial expressions show her to be shy as she is looking away from the camera and down at the floor. But also confident due to her pouted lips and holding her head quite high. This could mirror the fact that she can be quite shy sometimes but her music allows her to be confident. Which is conventional of indie artists as they could sometimes be seen to be quite and timid but then when performing and creating their music they are confident and proud. Again this photo has the same conventional low cost setting of a field that is similar through out my digipak.

I love this photo due to the simplisticness of it, Sharna looks so effortless in it but it is still a really effective photo. It allows the audience to get a clearer close up of her face. She looks really confident as well, due to her facial expressions as mentioned and her hair effortlessly falling across her face, implying she is not focused on looks or her looking perfect. Which is conventional of indie artists as they are known to be more focused on their music then their looks.

This photo of Sharna I used for my magazine advert, I used this mid shot of Sharna because it shows clearly what she looks like. Although simple it is highly important in the advert as some of the target audience may not be aware of who she is therefore need a clear photo of her to stick in their heads.

This photo is a lot darker then the  digipak photos, I decided to do this because it shows her audience that their are two sides to her. In the digipak pack although confident it mostly showed her to be quite natural, simplistic and timid at times. This magazine advert photo shows her to be very confident and powerful, showing that her music makes her feel empowered. This makes her more relatable to the audience because her confident feels quite contagious, making them want to be like her and see her as a role model. The darker setting could also resemble that her songs are based on true experiences that she has been through and darker times in her life, but shows she is strong enough to face them head on.

I love Sharna's facial expressions in this photo, its so simple but effective. She is looking directly into the camera implying she is strong and  powerful. Although it could be seen as quite subversive for an indie artist to be this powerful looking, this is normally something seen more in female pop artists. However I think It makes her more of a role model for her audience to look up to.

I really enjoyed taking the images for my advert and digipak and I feel I worked well with Sharna to get the images needed. I can out with a very good range of different shots. This meant when it came to choosing what to use for my digipak and advert I have lots of various images to choose from.  However, there was a few negatives when filming. It was freezing on the day and because my artist was wearing little clothing it was hard to make the photos looks natural and portray the representations I wanted. Making it hard to make my photos look professional and not awkward. Also it was hard to get good lighting when shooting in the forest because of the trees.

I think overall my digipak and advert show my artist to be quite quiet and timid at times but that she uses her music and past experiences to feel confident and powerful.

Individual magazine advert reflection

I created my individual magazine advert to increase awareness of my artist. Also it helps to promote the artist album and no1 single.

For this photo I used a darker filter than in my digipak, this is to show that Sharna has two sides to her. This is showing her more confident and bold personality, reflected by the dark blacks, browns and blues used. These have connotations of her being fierce and outgoing, which would appeal to her audience because it shows them that she has high confidence in her music. And it highlights to them that her music increases her confidence so they could listen to it to try to gain this feeling that Sharna has when producing it.  My writing consists of two different colours, the orange used for 'illuminate' and 'wings' is used as it connotes happiness and energy. It also can reflect creativeness and success. I used it for these words specifically because these are the connotations I want to be linked with her album and number 1 single. These are all things that Sharna would want to be associated with her music, as it presents her as passionate about her album and music. By displaying this passion to the audience it would encourage them to listen to her songs. Also I used the white colour for her name and the other text. I used it specifically for her name because I think it connotes her as pure and innocent. Sharna is new to the music industry and has therefore not been involved in the darker side of the industry yet. As a result she would be seen as a very pure artist in the industry. This white also contradicts the darker colours used for the actual photo of her, implying that there are two sides to Sharna, the more confident and outgoing side and the innocent and pure side. These colours that I have used help to promote my artist to her target audience because it reflects her as being a real person. She does have a darker side with her past experiences but she has turned it around with her music and has made them into positives.

The first indie convention that can be seen in my magazine advert in the setting that the photograph is taken in. Behind Sharna the low budget setting of a forest can be seen. It is conventional of the indie genre because their productions are usually lost cost, this is reflected in my setting I have chosen because the forest is a public place therefore would not cost anything to film there. This would appeal to the audience because it shows Sharna is not trying to hide behind a big fancy production and is more focused on the music itself. It also helps to further promote that Sharna is real and relatable as she is not going to hide behind a fancy setting and layers of make up. Also as Sharna is the only person in the advert which shows that she can stand alone and face the issues that she has experienced, implying she is a strong individual. This bravery shown by Sharna would appeal to her audience because it shows her as a positive role model for her audience that they can look up to.  

The image that I used for my magazine advert is a mid shot of Sharna looking straight at the camera. A clear shot of the artist is highly important to in a magazine advert because some of her target audience may not be aware of who she is therefore need the clear photo of her to stick in their heads.  She is not showing much emotion, it shows her to be direct and simplistic, as there is nothing very extravagant about the photo. I chose this shot because her confidence is pouring out of the photo, this could reflect that her music makes her feel empowered. Which would encourage her audience to listen to it.  Her confidence in the photo feels quite contagious, this could make her audience want to be like her and see her as a role model. I really like her facial expression in this photo, its so simple but effective. She is making direct eye contact with the camera, connoting her as strong and powerful. I think this creates a good role model that her audience will want to look up to. The darker feel to the photo could resemble that her songs are based on true experiences that she has been through and darker times in her life, but shows she is strong enough to face them head on. However, this strong and powerful representation of Sharna could be seen as subversive as this is normally a representation of a female pop artist. But I think it would intrigue her audience.

For Sharna's name I used a quirky looking font, I decided to do this for two reasons. The first was simply as I think it helped to make her name stand out amongst the other text on the advert. But also because I think this font helped to represent Sharna. It implies that she is different and doesn't follow the norm, this is conventional of indie music artists as they are stereotypically seen to not follow the mainstream and do their own thing. This would appeal to her target audience as it is showing them that it is okay to be different and do your own thing, listener's of indie music are likely not to listen to mainstream music. Therefore will enjoy Sharna presenting herself as different. For 'Illuminate' and 'Wings' I put them in a more ordinary font, and the text was slightly smaller then Sharna's name. This is because this information is still important but obviously not as important as her name. Also with 'illuminate' I put a glow behind it to give the impression that the word it shining and glowing as these have connotations on illuminating. The other text on the page 'new debute album' and featuring no1 single' is in a much smaller font then the rest of the writing as it needs to be there in order for the advert to make sense however it is not as important as the other information. As it is an advert and I need to attract my audience I use minimal writing and simple language so that it appeals to them and their not overloaded with irrelevant information. 

When using  Photoshop I struggled with using the magic eraser tool, this is because it was hard to rub out the specific colour needed and not loose the rest of the other colours as well. However, I overcome this because I soon realised that you are able to zoom in really close to the subject, therefore making it easier to be more specific. However, I feel I was good at using the blur tool, this is because I used it in quite a few of my photos in order to blur to the background, so that the focus could be more on Sharna and any writing would be easier to see. After using it on the first photo I found it really simple and easy to do. This helped me to create a successful advert because it allowed me to have time to focus on making other elements of my advert better.